What options are there for an immigrant who is married to a US citizen, and has a child, but is facing deportation? 5 Answers as of February 15, 2011

My mother is a US citizen. About a year ago she married an illegal immigrant from Honduras and they have a two year old daughter together, born here in Florida. About two and a half years ago he was arrested and given a court date to decide what will happen to him. My question is does he have any other option otherthan deportation? does him being married with a US citizen and having a baby with her help his case? They were told the best way to go was voluntary deportation and my mother petitioning or requesting him.thanks for your help!

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Deportation questions are the hardest to answer in these posts because many more details are needed to determine if someone is eligible for something. Generally speaking, if someone enters illegally, they cannot apply for a greencard here in the U.S. There is at least one exception under INA section 245i but it requires presence in December of 2000 and some sort of visa petition or labor cert prior to April 30, 2001. Or if someone has been here for more than 10 years and has qualifying relatives, they may be able to apply for cancellation of removal. I suggest consulting with a competent attorney.

You should ask your mother whether her husband entered the US with a visa. If he did not, whether he applied for TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for Honduras citizens. He may have other better options than voluntary departure.

It depends on how long he has been in the country and what factors he could use to show that his deportation would cause extreme and extraordinary hardship on his U. S. Spouse and child. This is known as cancellation of Deportation.

Surely you need to work with a lawyer right now. You will have a few options, voluntary leave is one of them, applying waiver based on extreme hardship on the child side. The latter is hard to prove. That's why you need to work with a lawyer to represent you in front of judge, or in deportation process.

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